From the “obviously” department: David Isenberg notes that Auburn, Indiana stepped up to provide fiber service to a local business and preserve 75 jobs. The city did it because no private firm would.
Hong Kong broadband network now available (100mbps!!!!) for $35.00/month.
Daily Archives: November 19, 2004
Dodge Cty Sherrif Todd Nehls Letter from Afghanistan
We delivered our truck full, yes truck full, on Sunday. The village had 160 families and over 500 children. As we drove into the village the children started running towards our vehicles to greet us. We spoke with the elders who advised us to just give the shoes to them and they will distribute later. I disagreed and told them that the soldiers wish to give the shoes out to the children on an individual basis. After the first 100 pairs, we lost a little control as we had difficulty matching shoes with children. Though our first foray into shoe distribution did not go as planned, the smiles could not be hidden. Parents were appreciative, Elders pleased, and the soldiers hearts were filled with personal satisfaction.
Marquette Symposium on Wisconsin Tax Policy
Taxprof summarizes the Marquette Law Review’s symposium on Wisconsin Tax Policy.
Wisconsin Governor Doyle Gets Utility Cash After Projects Approved
Patrick Marley on local utility lobbying:
Political action committees for and employees of Wisconsin Energy Corp., Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and American Transmission Co. gave Doyle $50,660 just before or after their projects received key approvals, according to figures collected by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-partisan group pushing for campaign finance reform…
Between 2002 and June 30, 2004, people affiliated with the state’s gas and electric utilities gave Doyle $133,323, a 17-fold increase over the $7,911 such individuals gave Doyle from 1995 to 2001 when he was attorney general, the report found.
McCain Fights for Our Rights – Are Kohl & Feingold MIA?
I wonder how our Senators (Feingold & Kohl) respond when the MPAA and RIAA lobbyists stop by? Do they think about our fair use rights, like John McCain? McCain put a stop to H.R. 4077 because of valid concerns about whether the freedoms it granted (to enable parents to filter “smut” from films) would be read to deny fair use in other cases (note that the MPAA and RIAA are masters of wrapping their rent taking strategies in the flag). Via Lessig
Tom Peters on K-Mart & Sears
“Thud or maybe no one cares” – Tom Peters on news of the K-Mart/Sears deal.
Gartenberg on DRM
Michael Gartenberg takes a look at Digital Restrictions Management (DRM):
The issue of DRM has been raised again in recent weeks when Apple ?broke? a popular utility that allowed users to bypass the DRM built into the iPod and allowed copying from the iPod to a PC. Consumers, the argument goes, are against any DRM for their media and will not buy protected music.
10 Reasons to Shy Away From Venture Capital
Peter Ireland on antiventurecapital:
The decision to chase venture capital is often a tempting distraction from the much more complex and important entrepreneurial tasks of creating something to sell and persuading someone to buy it. The pursuit of venture capital is sometimes a means by which to postpone the day of reckoning when the marketplace finally decides if the idea will fly.
GPS & Speech Recognition help Blind People use Public Transport
The basic user components of Noppa are a mobile phone that’s loaded with speech-recognition software and a Bluetooth GPS unit. The Bluetooth connection is used to get real-time bus and train data (the kind that appears on bus stop signs and train platforms to users know when their vehicle is about to arrive).